A Heart, A soul and A Helping Hand
by soniczelda nerd
Summary: No one understands Shadow the hedgehog, at least not to his expectations, but will a chance encounter with someone who can relate to Shadow be enough for him to open up? Or can no one truly understand him? Rated T for coarse language, violence, etc. ShadowXTikal.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Sonic the Hedgehog belongs to SEGA, not me**

* * *

Chapter – 1

Sometimes you can find happiness in and with other people. But you find true happiness with the people who understand you personally. You cannot find pure happiness with yes men and sympathy friends, it takes a genuine individual, or group of individuals, to reach a person's standard of expectation to reach happiness. This is the story of how a certain hedgehog regained his happiness.

* * *

Shadow the Hedgehog is atop a cliff over-looking Station Square, and in this very moment, the sunset which decorated the sky with the rich vibrant colors of orange, yellow, and pink. He let out a sigh, thinking of everything that has ever happened to him; some parts he remembered made him feel slightly happy for all the accomplishments he made, but for him it was like taking off a mask to show your identity, only to put it back on in an extremely short amount of time. Other times he felt nothing but great anger, and the fact that he often deals with a certain cocky rival of his does not help.

He had gone through so much, he remembers the crisis he was a part of when he tried to destroy the earth to avenge his creator, Gerald Robotnik, but after many flashbacks and with the help of Amy Rose, Shadow knew exactly what he needed to do and changed his ways to help save the earth.

He also remembers that adventure he had with Rouge the Bat and E-123 Omega to find Dr. Eggman and later on destroy, Metal Sonic; he did however find out something that made him question his very existence.

And he remembered the invasion of the Black Arms and how the leader of the Black Arms, Black Doom, tried to reveal the truth to Shadow about his life and his purpose, luckily Sonic and the others were able to convince Shadow that Black Doom was only deceiving him. Convinced of the actual truth, Shadow was able to stop Black Doom from taking over the earth.

And for some reason, he vaguely remembers something about a princess, a look-alike, and a god-like fire beast though he doesn't know or remember why.

Regardless, there is one thing he always remembers, Maria Robotnik, the daughter of his creator and his closest friend. Shadow distinctly remembered everything that happened that day 50 years ago: running through the ARK, the urgency of the situation, Maria herself and her death it all happened too fast.

Shadow let out a sigh as he remembered his past. He grew angry at the thoughts but grew more of despair more than anything else. "Why… Why did this have to happen?" Shadow asked himself. "Why was I left to suffer? Why was I left to grieve? Why was I forsakened?"

Not too far, a figure started to approach Shadow from behind, being quiet and sneaky as he did. A devious smile decorated his face as he got closer and closer to his target, he was about to do something when shadow let out a grunt. "What do you want, Sonic?" Sonic, who was about to attempt to spook Shadow a bit, chuckled. "I guess you can see the future, or was that just a lucky guess?"

"You do this all the time."

"But its fun isn't it? I mean, it was fun but now that you know I'm the one who's doing this, it's not-"

"What do you want?" Shadow asked, very annoyed.

"I just wanted to see how my rival was doing."

"He's fine as you can obviously see. Now tell me what you really want, or get out of here."

"Someone's a little more grumpy than usual."

"I. Am. Not. In. The. Mood."

"Well how 'bout you swing by my place later. I'm having a party and I'm sure you're going to have a great time." Sonic said with a grin. There was a long moment of silence before Shadow gave his simple answer. "No." Sonic frowned a bit but was determined to have Shadow change his mind.

"Come on, it'll be great. There'll be food, dancing, competition, and all of our friends are coming. I might even bring some new friends that can be very beneficial to you, if you know what I mean." Sonic said with a cocky grin and winked at Shadow after saying the last part.

Shadow let out a huff, he did not want to hear anymore of this. "I said no! What part of that do you not understand?

Sonic scowled at Shadow's behavior. "You know Shadow, your attitude is really crawling on my skin. Here I am trying to be nice to you, and all you do is be a Negative Nancy. I mean can it kill you to show that you care about anything?"

"Like you'd ever understand!"

"You know what maybe I don't, but at least I don't drive away the people that try to help me. I mean seriously, what is your problem?"

"Drop it faker."

"Is it about what happened to you 50 years ago?"

"I said drop it."

"You gotta move on dude, what's in the past is in the past. You can't keep living in the past, take charge an-"

"SHUT UP!" Shadow yelled, not wanting to hear anymore.

"You don't know what I go through on a daily basis. I have suffered for 50 long years trying to cope with my life, and for what, to have someone like you lecture me about being negative? I have tried and tried my hardest to at least forget about my past only to remember it every time I blink. You, and every mortal in this planet, do not understand me, and you definitely don't know me, so don't talk to me like you do. You don't know what it's like to suffer like I have, the most you know about suffering is a temporary defeat by that bloated buffoon of a doctor. You have absolutely no respect if all you do is pester others with your cocky attitude and sarcastic remarks. Until the day you fully understand me, don't bother speaking to me. So shut the hell up and don't you dare speak of my past again! Understood!"

Sonic stood where he was with a shocked expression. He didn't even move a muscle since Shadow went off on his tangent.

Shadow let out a huff. "Good." He pulled out the green chaos emerald and raised it in the air. "CHAOS CONTROL!" In a flash of green light, Shadow disappeared.

Sonic still stood at his spot with the same look on his face, even after Shadow left. After a few minutes he came out of his shock and looked at the spot where Shadow was at. "Shadow, I'm sorry. I was just trying to look out for you." And with that Sonic turned around and ran back into the city.

* * *

**Author's Note: What did you think? Too much, or too little? Either way, I want to thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this. See you in the next chapter, whenever that may be. Don't forget to review; constructive criticism is welcome, flames are not.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter – 2

A flash of green light appears in front of a little house on the edge of Station Square. The light clears up to show Shadow the Hedgehog with a depressed look, the same look he'd always have when he was in a bad mood.

"I can't believe Faker made me explode like that, then again why shouldn't I believe it? It was bound to happen sooner or later. (sigh) I just hate how he acts like he's known me for all his life, or at least he acts like he knows more than he knows. I hate it when he does that. I hate it when anyone does that."

Shadow walked to his garage and opened the door to show a relatively clean garage. Nothing was barely in it, save for the motorcycle in front of him. Shadow walked up to the motorcycle and got on it, he put the keys in the ignition and rode out, and he closed the garage door before leaving to ride around the city.

* * *

As Shadow rode to a red light, his thoughts started drifting to what Sonic had said about forgetting his past.

"Faker's right, I do need to move on. It's been 50 years and I'm still dwelling on what happened, But the memories are too great that I, I… Arg!"

Taking a deep breathe to calm down, he started driving when the light turned green.

"The memory of Maria hurts the most for me; I just can't get the image of how scared she looked out of my head. It was too much. I was never able to forget about her and I don't think I ever will."

Out in the distance, a green light shined over the city. Shadow saw the light with confusion.

"What was that?" Shadow started headed towards where the light was.

* * *

Shadow made it to the ocean. He got off his motor cycle and saw a small hint of the green light fade away. He walked toward the shore and saw where the light had come from and saw Angel Island in the distance.

"It came from Angel Island, but why? Did that red fool do something? Why am I even worried?"

Shadow was about to leave, but his curiosity got the better of him and he pulled out the chaos emerald. "CHAOS CONTROL!" And with that, he had disappeared.

* * *

Shadow appeared on the edge of Angel Island and was able to see the alter leading to the master emerald and started walking to the steps.

"Why am I doing this? Just because something caught my attention and I got curious. It's not like Knuckles can't handle himself."

When he got to the steps, he saw Knuckles along with another person. He wondered who the new stranger could be, maybe a friend that only Knuckles had known about, Shadow wouldn't be surprised if that was the case but at the same time it does sound a little strange. Curious as he was though, Shadow decided to just leave, but not before he was called out.

"Hey Shadow!" Shouted Knuckles.

Shadow turned around to see Knuckles looking straight at him. "What are you doing here?" Asked Knuckles.

Shadow started to walk up the steps. "Well let's get one thing straight; I didn't come here for a visit. Something just caught my attention."

"What?"

"A flash of light. It just randomly popped up while I was riding around town. I followed it and it lead me here"

At this, Knuckles stifled a chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"That was the master emerald that made that light." Shadow looked over to see the Master Emerald completely fine.

"What did it do?"

"Well for one it brought you up here didn't it?" laughed Knuckles, while Shadow let out an annoyed grunt. "Anyway, and it brought back Tikal."

"Who?"

Knuckles looked over to see the orange echidna, Tikal, with a bashful smile on her face. "Shadow, this is Tikal."

Shadow looked over at Tikal and was curious. She had this attire on her that looked it was from a long time ago. He also felt calm, just one look at her and Shadow knew that this was a very kind soul, though he can't put his finger on why.

"Hello. I'm Tikal, Tikal the Echidna." Tikal said extending her hand towards Shadow. Shadow looked down at her hand for a second before he shook it. "I'm Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog."

"I guess you're lucky that Tikal saw you, huh?" Said Knuckles

Shadow looked at Tikal. "Really?"

"My apologies, but you seemed unfamiliar to me, so I told Knuckles you were here. I thought you were here to cause trouble. I apologize" Tikal said, playing with her hair bashfully.

Knuckles let out a snicker at Tikal's bashfulness then looked over to Shadow.

"It's alright." Said Shadow and looked at Knuckles "So nothing happened."

"Nope. By the way, why'd you come here anyway?"

"Aside from curiosity, I have no idea. So really, I have no business here." With that, Shadow turned to leave.

"Wait."

Shadow looked back at knuckles. "What is it?"

"Can you do something for me?"

"What?"

"I know this is sudden to ask you this, but can you take Tikal with you?"

"Wait what. Why?"

"Well I wanted to show Tikal around since she's not accustomed to how we live here, but I have to stay watch the master emerald, y'know."

"And what makes you think I'll do it?"

"Because I'm sure you have soft side underneath that really rough exterior."

"And how are you sure of that?"

"Can you please just do it?"

"I'm not going to do what you tell me to do just because you ask me to. I'm not that kind of person."

"Please, I would really appreciate it." Said Tikal.

Shadow looked to see Tikal with her hands folded in front of her with a pleading look on her face.

"I agree that this is sudden, but please I'd like the chance to see what life is like here. You'd make me really happy if you were to do this for me."

"Look, you seem like a really nice person, but I already gave you my answer."

"Please. At least give me this one chance."

Shadow was caught off by what Tikal had said"_ Give her a chance… to be Happy._" Shadow thought and looked at Tikal. A vivid image of Maria flashed on Tikal for a split second. Shaking the thought off, Shadow looked at Tikal.

"Very well. I'll show you around."

Having hear Shadow say that, Tikal tackled him in a hug.

"Thank you Shadow! I can't wait!" Exclaimed Tikal and broke the hug.

"It looks like it's late. Any chance we can start tomorrow?"

"Absolutely."

With that, Shadow went down the alter, and performed chaos control to leave.

* * *

Back at the shore, Shadow started to think about his decision.

"For a moment, I saw a bit of Maria in her, it seemed odd that happened, but that's what made me change my mind. Could it be that maybe she's like Maria?" Shadow asked himself.

He shook the thought and got on his motorcycle to ride back to his house. He was going to have quite the day tomorrow.

* * *

**And here is chapter 2. I want to thank you for reading. Don't forget to review and give me feedback. I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Before we begin, I want to thank the individuals that favorited and followed this story. 1a4d, hailzone, and Shadow hte hedgehog thank you for the support. And thank you to all of you reading my story, It means a lot to me and I appreciate that you're taking the time to read this story. You give me the motivation to continue and do better. With that said, let's continue the story.**

* * *

Chapter – 3

The next morning, Shadow shot up from his bed with a gasp. Panting and shaken up he rested his hands on his head to clear his thoughts. He started to look around to see it was still dark out, he looked over to his clock on the nightstand to see it was 2:30 am. Shadow groaned and decided to get out of bed, it'd be pointless to try to go back to sleep anyway. He had put on his shoes and went outside to the porch. Sitting down on a bench, he started to think of the reason he got up in the first place.

"I keep having this accursed dream." He said very annoyed. "Every night it's the same dream over and over again. As if me grieving about Maria's death wasn't enough for me during the day."

Shadow took a deep breathe and looked up at the star filled dark sky.

"I just have to focus on other things, at least that way I won't be miserable."

He started to think about what had happened to him tonight to replace the previous thought.

"What a day. First Faker angers me, then I take a trip to Angel Island, thanks to my damn curiosity, and I meet someone new."

He started to think more of Tikal and what he had said to her.

"Tikal, you are a unique one. You seem to have gotten my attention much quicker than anyone ever hoped to. I'm not really sure what it is about you that has gotten me so interested in you but I'm not making any conclusions yet; but there is something about you that entices me. And it can't be a coincidence that I saw Maria when I saw you. Maybe it's a chance to experience something new. Than again what do I know?"

* * *

Hours passed until it was around 10 am, Shadow had woken up after going back to bed to at least get some rest. He got out of his bed and got himself ready for today. He got his motorcycle keys and headed for his garage. He got on his motorcycle to leave, he closed the garage door and left all while thinking of what today holds.

* * *

Shadow made it to the beach

he needed to go to after parking his motorcycle. As he was walking towards the shore he thought more of the favor he made and was thinking about what he got himself into.

"I probably shouldn't have agreed to this. I don't even know that much about this place. Aside from the meadow I go to in the outskirts of the city, I don't know anything else. I put myself in a real pickle, but it shouldn't be that bad, right?"

Shadow stopped when he was at the shore and pulled out the chaos emerald "CHAOS CONTROL" Shadow disappeared in a flash of green light.

* * *

Once on Angel Island, Shadow saw the alter and walked up to it. He saw that Knuckles and Tikal were in front of the master emerald just like last night when he got there. Shadow went up the stairs, Knuckles and Tikal turned around when they heard foot steps and saw Shadow walking up the stairs.

"Shadow, you made it" Said Knuckles.

"Yeah…" Shadow said, as he made it to the top and looked over at Tikal. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Very well. Let's go."

Shadow and Tikal were about to go down the stairs when Knuckles spoke up.

"Shadow, can you come here for a minute."

Shadow let out a sigh and walked up to Knuckles. "What?"

"I want you to be careful and watch Tikal. Keep an eye on her and keep her out of trouble."

"That's my intention."

"Good. Now have fun and don't bring her back too late." Knuckles said with a smirk.

Shadow starred at Knuckles for a moment. "What are you implying?"

"Nothing, just giving a bit of friendly advice." Said knuckles and winked at Shadow.

Shadow saw this and let out an exasperated sigh. "I swear, you are all the same." Said Shadow and walked back to Tikal. "Let's go."

Shadow and Tikal walked down the steps with Shadow pulling out the chaos emerald. Once at the bottom Shadow raised the emerald in the air. "CHAOS CONTROL!" And in a flash of green light, Shadow and Tikal vanished.

Knuckles watched from the alter with a smile. "Look out for her Shadow, I know you will."

* * *

On the shore of the beach, Shadow and Tikal appeared after Shadow had used chaos control to teleport them out of Angel Island.

"Shall we go?" Asked Shadow as he started to walk.

"Wait!"

Shadow turned around. "Yes?"

"How did you do that?"

"What?"

"That thing you did with the emerald."

"Oh that, it's just an ability that let's me harness the energy in the emerald and let's me use that energy in the way that you just saw, and then some. It's hard to explain how it works."

"I see, I've never heard of anyone that can do that."

"There's a first time for everything."

Shadow and Tikal made it to Shadow's motorcycle. Tikal, having never before seen a motorcycle in her life, was unsure of what it was or what it did. Shadow got on the motorcycle, but Tikal stayed where she was.

"Everything alright?"

"Yes, everything's fine. But what is that thing, I've never seen it before?" Said Tikal pointing to the motorcycle.

"This is our means of transportation. You get on behind me. And don't worry, it's nothing dangerous."

Tikal walked over to the motorcycle and got behind Shadow. Shadow turned on the motorcycle and looked back to Tikal.

"Hold on."

Tikal wrapped her arms around Shadow and he rode off.

* * *

As the two rode around the city, Tikal was mesmerized at how big the city actually was. Back at Angel Island, all she was able to see were the buildings, and now that she's in the city, she's able to see the buildings, and everything else up close. The buildings were as big as towers, there was an abundance of people, and everything just seemed welcoming. As the two rode to a stop, Tikal looked around then brought her attention to Shadow with curiosity.

"Where are we going first?"

" I'm not sure." He started to think, and then he remembered something. "Wait, there's this one place we can go to. I always see people go there."

The light turned green and they rode off to their destination.

* * *

Shadow and Tikal rode up to a parking lot, having arrived at their destination.

"Shadow what is this place?" Asked Tikal as she and Shadow got off the motorcycle.

"I don't really know, but I see lots of people always coming here, so it can't be that bad of a place."

Shadow and Tikal started to walk toward the object in question: the Station Square Mall.

* * *

Once in the mall, Shadow and Tikal were surprised at how big and populated this place actually was. It was a two story building but the rest of the mall was filled with endless halls and walkways. There were a lot of stores from the looks of things, and the people made everything crowded.

"This place is enormous. How do you keep yourself from getting lost?" Asked Tikal.

Shadow was too busy looking around to respond. As he was looking around, someone had called out to him.

"Shadow!"

He now looked around to find out who called for him and saw Amy Rose along with her friend Cream the Rabbit. "Rose?" Amy and Cream walked towards Shadow, happy and surprised to see him.

"Shadow what are you doing here?"

"I'm showing Tikal around."

"Who?"

Shadow looked over to Tikal and presented her to the two girls. "She's Tikal. Tikal this is Amy and her friend Cream."

"Hi, I'm Amy and this is my best friend Cream!"

"It's nice to meet you Miss Tikal." Said Cream extending her hand out to Tikal.

"Likewise." Said Tikal and shook Cream's hand.

"I never expected to see you here. But anyway, what is it you said you were doing?" Asked Amy.

"I'm showing Tikal around. I decided to come here because it seemed like a good place to start. But even I'm lost, so it seems that this was a waste coming here."

"Wait!" Exclaimed Amy. "Maybe we can help you."

"What?"

"Yeah, me and Cream come here all the time, and we know where everything is, so maybe we can help you out."

"Oh yes, that's a great idea Amy. Please Mr. Shadow, let us help you show Miss Tikal around, we'd be more than to help you."

Shadow was at a loss for words and looked over to Tikal. "What do you think, should they help us?"

"Well, they do seem willing to help us, and besides since they know this place, it'd be a lot easier for us to find our way around. And it's better to have help when it's offered, right?"

Shadow did not respond to Tikal's question.

"Well?" Amy and Cream asked in unison.

"We'd be honored if you were to help us show me around."

"Wait Wha-" Shadow was cut off with Amy and Cream squealing in delight.

"Let's go then, we have a lot to show you." Said Amy as her and Cream practically dragged Tikal away.

Shadow stood where he was for a couple seconds, not believing his ears for a minute.

"What the hell just happened?" Shadow said and followed the girls.

* * *

(2 hours later)

Tikal had stepped out of a store with Amy and Cream that they had shopped in. Amy and Cream had been showing Tikal around the mall and had shopped at most of their favorite stores. All the girls were giggling intently as they left the store.

"That was fun, wasn't it Miss Tikal?"

"Yes, that was exhilarating. I didn't think shopping can be so engaging."

"Trust me Tikal, we only explored half of what this mall has to offer."

"Really? Then I can't wait for next time."

"Um, excuse me for asking but where's Mr. Shadow?"

All three girls looked back at the store to see Shadow. His head was down and his body almost looked lifeless.

"You okay Shadow?" Asked Amy.

Shadow looked up and gave the girls a blank stare as he spoke.

"I'm just fine, thanks for asking." Shadow said almost seething. "_I swear I will destroy this place. I can't believe people waste their time here._"

"Well it's been fun, but me and Cream have to go. It was nice meeting you Tikal."

"Oh yes, and we hope to see you again"

"The pleasure was all mine."

With that, Amy and Cream left to venture more in the mall leaving Shadow and Tikal by themselves once again. Tikal looked back to Shadow with a concerned look.

"Are you really okay?"

"To be honest, no I'm not. I didn't think that was going to take as long as it did."

"Oh. I-I apologize, I got carried away and I-"

"Don't worry. I'm not mad at you, I'm just annoyed with how tedious that was for me."

"Even still, I dragged you into it, and I feel terrible that-"

"Hey, it's not your fault. You had a good time, and I guess that's all that matters."

"Thank you Shadow."

Tikal's stomach started to growling, causing her to blush.

"I'm guessing you're hungry, I think I saw something when we were with Amy and Cream."

* * *

The two made it to the food court and looked around at the many tables, booths, and restaurants in the area.

"This is surprisingly less crowded than when I last saw it. Why don't you take a seat, I'll be back." Said Shadow

Tikal nodded and went to sit at a table while Shadow left.

Shadow looked around and approached one a concession stand in the middle of the room. He was greeted by a bear that looked to be working there. "May I help you?" Asked the bear.

Shadow looked around the stand to see what he can get. Seeing as the only things that were there were hot dogs, Shadow looked to at the clerk. "Yes, can I, um get two… plain… hot dogs."

The clerk nodded and prepared the hot dogs. "Just plain hot dogs right, no ketchup, onions, nothing?" Asked the clerk.

"Um, no thank you." Said Shadow

The clerk put the hot dogs on the counter. "That'll be 5 rings." Shadow paid the clerk and saw that the clerk was grinning at him. "Enjoying your date?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your date. With the orange echidna over there."

Shadow let out a sigh and looked the clerk in the eye. "She's not my date."

"So you're just really close friends?"

"Look, she's not my date or anything like that. I'm just showing her around."

"Then I guess you don't mind if that guy flirts with her, huh?"

Shadow turned around to see a tan hedgehog at the table where Tikal was at. Tikal looked bothered by the guy in front of her, Shadow scowled and walked over towards them.

* * *

(A few minutes ago)

After Tikal took a seat, she saw Shadow went to a stand in the middle of the room, then out of the corner of her eyes she saw a tan hedgehog walking towards her. He was wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses, and he wore a devious smile.

"Hey doll." Said the tan hedgehog.

"H-Hello."

"Can I just say that you are the most fine looking hottie here."

"Um, thank you?"

"The name's Rufus. What about you, you got a name, doll face?" Asked Rufus with a grin.

"It's Tikal, and that was rude of you to call me that."

"Oh no, I meant it as a compliment. My bad Tikal. Tikal, I like that name. It has such a nice ring to it."

"Well thank you."

"So Tikal, what say we ditch this joint and get to know each other better?"

"Excuse me?"

"What I'm sayin' is that you and me get on out of here to well acquaint ourselves."

"…"

"Hey you can trust me, I'm a good guy. So how 'bout it. Let's ditch this place."

"I don't think I should."

"Why not?"

"Because she's with me."

Rufus turned around to see Shadow standing with his arms crossed, staring at him with an annoyed expression. Rufus continued to stare at Shadow before bursting in a fit laughs.

"You're trippin' man. That's a good joke, you had me going for a sec there."

Shadow now glared at Rufus as Rufus started to calm down.

"No but seriously, get outta here man. You're killing my mojo."

Rufus turned to Tikal.

"Now where were we? Oh yeah. Let's-"

Shadow turned Rufus around.

"Listen, I'm not in the mood right now. So I suggest you leave before things get ugly."

Rufus rolled his eyes.

"And what are you gonna do, you old hag?"

Rufus turned to Tikal again.

"Sorry about that. But seriously, you and me should-"

Rufus didn't get to finish that sentence before he was thrown to another table, knocking it down on impact. Rufus strained to get up and was looking around when he did.

"Who. Did. That!"

At this, Shadow chuckled as he looked down at Rufus.

"Guess the old hag is stronger than he looks."

"You son of a Bitch!"

Rufus got up and charged at Shadow. Shadow stood where he was, watching as Rufus charged at him.

"Shadow run!" Yelled Tikal, but Shadow didn't move a muscle. Rufus got closer and started to wind up his fist.

Shadow pulled out the chaos emerald and raised it in the air.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

Rufus' fist almost made contact with Shadow, but stopped just short of his face. Shadow quickly swayed to the side and did a roundhouse kick to the back of Rufus' head. Rufus fell to the ground slamming into another table. Rufus got up and looked at Shadow.

"How'd you do that?" Rufus asked rubbing the back of his head. "Doesn't matter, you're not tough because you're a wizard."

"Wizardry has nothing to do with it, you just lack skill."

Enraged Rufus charged at Shadow again; this time Shadow didn't use chaos control, he waited until Rufus threw a punch at him to grab his fist with ease. Rufus was shaking as he tried to free his hand, but Shadow held a firm grip. Rufus looked at Shadow's eyes to see pure anger.

"I warned you."

Shadow punched Rufus' arm down and followed it up with a punch to his midsection and one to his face.

Shadow leg sweeped Rufus while he was distracted. While Rufus was down Shadow looked at him and spoke.

"You should have left when I gave you the choice."

"Maybe, but you got lucky. Age would've picked up on and you wouldn't have been so lucky.

Shadow grinned then kneed Rufus in that place where the sun don't shine. Rufus let out a yell and Shadow looked at him.

"I'm not worried about my age. I'm immortal.

With that, Shadow left to go back to Tikal.

"Sorry about that." Said Shadow.

As he took a seat, he looked up to Tikal to see that she had a shocked look on her face.

"I can't believe you just did that?"

Shadow saw the disbelief in her eyes. He knew what she was talking about, and let out a sigh, feeling a bit of guilt wash over him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that and I'm sorry that you had to witness it. I don't know what came over me, I was just angry at the fact that he had the audacity to talk to you that way. No one should be disrespectful like that. I reacted out of instinct, and I apologize for it."

Shadow put his head down in shame after he was done. He almost never regretted anything he ever did, but seeing as Tikal is beyond shocked, he couldn't help but feel nothing but regret at that moment. He looked up when he felt something on his hand, and saw that Tikal had placed her hand on top of his and gave him a comforting smile.

"It's alright. Although I don't believe violence helps anyone, and as much as I'm against what happened, I want to thank you for at least looking out for me." Shadow smiled back.

"I kind of Promised Knuckles I would."

"Can you at maybe try a different approach next time, at least for me?"

"I can't promise anything, but I'll try."

Tikal's stomach growled again and Shadow chuckled. "Guess that fight made me forget the food."

Shadow went back to get the hot dogs that he had put down as Tikal watched him from the table.

"He has such a big heart for a seemingly cold person, but such a unique individual you are, Shadow the Hedgehog."

* * *

**And there goes chapter 3. What did you think about it, especially the fight. I personally think I suck at fight scenes but what do think? Again, I want to thank you for reading and I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Don't forget to leave a review and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A bit of an FYI: I go into Shadow and Tikal's back story in this chapter. This is my interpretation of their back stories, namely Tikal's, not an official back story for them. Thank you and I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter – 4

Shadow and Tikal were still at the food court, enjoying their food and talking about the day they had. After they had finished their food, Tikal smiled at Shadow.

"Thank you for the meal Shadow, it was very good."

"No problem."

Shadow watched Tikal as she finished her hot dog and saw how happy she was.

"_I didn't give her the best first impression, but I think she's more than okay with it. Right now she seems happy and that's all that matters._"

Shadow watched her eat and was happy to see her smiling. Soon an image of Maria had appeared next to Tikal. Maria had the same happy expression as Tikal had right now; causing a bit of confusion and panic in the black hedgehog. Shadow was shocked to see the resemblance. Both Tikal and Maria had the same smile, the same sparkle in their eyes, which both were a rich light blue color, and Shadow could even feel an aura in Tikal he had always felt in Maria.

"_Is this some kind of joke? Am I seeing this clearly? T-Tikal, c-can it be?_"

"Shadow?"

"_It's not possible. Similarities in traits almost mean nothing._"

"Shadow?"

"_This is just my conscious messing with me. Tikal can't be-_"

"Shadow?!"

Shadow snapped back to reality and saw that Tikal was looking at him with a concerned look.

"Is everything alright?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Everything's fine. I guess I'm just thinking too much."

"About what?"

"It's nothing." Shadow looked up at Tikal as she was finishing her food. "We should probably go. It'll be dark by the time we get back to Angel Island."

Tikal nodded and got off her seat. Shadow grabbed the trash on the table and threw it away, he walked back to Tikal and they both left the mall.

* * *

It was early evening and the sun started to set. Shadow and Tikal were on Shadow's motorcycle heading back to Angel Island. As they rode off, Shadow started thinking of today.

"_Wow, this wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I honestly thought this day would be a disaster, it almost was thanks to that tan hedgehog._"

The memories of the fight he had with Rufus started coming back to him.

"_Why didn't he just leave Tikal Alone? It was obvious that she was uncomfortable with him. He didn't get the hint, and I was there to make him get it. Tikal didn't really approve of what I did. She was completely against what I did, but she's thankful that I looked out for her. It's a bit funny though, she sounded a bit like… Maria_."

Shadow's thoughts drifted to both Maria and Tikal.

"_Actually now that I think about it, both Maria and Tikal are more alike than I thought. They're both kind hearted, they disapprove of any form of violence, and they greatly care for the well-being of others. This is really throwing me off now. I'm not 100%, but it's more than clear that Tikal reminds me of Maria. It's obvious they both have some effect on me. I probably shouldn't get my hopes up though; it could be a hoax for all I know._"

At the same time, Tikal was thinking of Shadow and what had happened today.

"_I have to admit, I really enjoyed myself; I met new people and I got to experience something I ended up really liking. The only thing I didn't like was that incident with the tan hedgehog. Not because he kept pestering me, but because I didn't expect Shadow to fight him. I was completely shocked when Shadow had fought back and he seemed to be enjoying it. It scared me to think he was capable of that kind of violence, I just hope I don't see that side of him again. On the other hand, I am thankful that he looked out for me._"

* * *

Shadow and Tikal made it back to the beach. They got off the motorcycle and started walking towards the shore.

"I had a great time today, Shadow." Said Tikal

"That's good to hear. I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." Said Shadow

"I enjoyed everything. But I guess it's safe to say that the only thing I didn't like was that fight."

"Yeah. Again, I apologize for that."

"It's okay. I just- I just really don't like the idea of people fighting. My life was changed because of it."

"What do you mean?"

Tikal looked up at Shadow with a saddened look.

"It happened when I was young. My father used to be an honorable and noble man, the greatest person you can have as a father, he was also the chief of our clan. He was not only a great father, but also a great leader in my opinion. But we were at war with another clan, and given that my father was the chief he had the responsibility of leading the men in the war. Eventually the stress of the war was too much for my father and he became a very violent person, it's because of that he became power hungry as well. Chaos, the guardian of the chaos emeralds and the master emerald at that time, sensed so much danger in my father with his lust for power. My father wanted to use the chaos emeralds to give him power and help end the war, but that backfired, and chaos ended up absorbing the chaos emeralds to transform into a monstrous beast, killing everyone in my clan. I was left to absorb chaos in the master emerald along with myself. I ended up losing everything because of violence." Tikal said sniffling.

Shadow starred at Tikal in disbelief. He had no idea of the suffering this creature had gone though. It was almost similar to his past.

"Wait, you absorbed Chaos in the master emerald, along with yourself?"

Tikal nodded. "Yes, I had no choice."

"How long were you there for?"

"Thousands of years, it was just recently I was able to get out."

"_So the green light that appeared was Tikal._"

Shadow looked at Tikal with a sympathetic look.

"I'm very sorry to hear that. You know, there was a time I lost people close to me because of the same thing."

"Really?"

"It was more of a seek and destroy type of situation for me. I was part of an experiment, to be made into the ultimate lifeform to develop cures for incurable deadly illnesses, and because of that I held great potential. Eventually word had gotten out about the experiment to the military and they saw me as a threat, to add on to that, the people working on the experiment were hunted down and killed. I was able to escape, but I left with a pretty big price: everyone that I had ever known and the ones I held dear to my heart were dead." Shadow said, he made sure not to mention anything or anyone in specific, namely Maria.

Tikal looked at Shadow with the same sympathetic look he gave her.

"Now I'm sorry. That must've been really hard for you to live with." Tikal said, giving Shadow a hug.

Shadow was caught off guard by this, but he sighed and welcomed the gesture.

"It's alright. I've been trying my absolute hardest to cope with it. It was never easy, but I don't think it's impossible either." Shadow said, and hugged Tikal back.

"That's good to know. I understand exactly how you feel."

Shadow eyes widened as Tikal's words echoed in his head.

"_She understands me? That's the first time I ever heard anyone say that. Is this how it feels like to be comforted, comforted by someone who knows exactly how you feel? I- I almost don't want o believe it. It's too good to be true._"

"Shadow?"

Shadow snapped back to reality.

"Huh? Oh, right! Sorry, are you ready?"

Tikal nodded and grabbed Shadow's hand. Shadow pulled out the chaos emerald and raised it in the air. "CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow and Tikal disappeared in a flash of green light.

* * *

Shadow and Tikal appeared on Angel Island. Tikal looked at Shadow.

"Thank you for today, I had a great time." Said Tikal

"Not a problem. I enjoyed myself too to be honest."

"Um, is it okay if we can continue tomorrow? I just really want to be able to experience life from a new perspective."

Shadow thought about it, laughing inwardly as he did.

"_She's really determined with this. Well if I say yes then what should I do? I could always show her the field I go to, yeah maybe._" Shadow looked at Tikal, confidence written all over his face. "Sure."

"Thank you Shadow!" Tikal said, giving him a hug.

"I guess I'll go now. I'll see you tomorrow."

Tikal nodded and walked to the alter as Shadow left using chaos control. Once at the alter Tikal walked up the steps and saw Knuckles was waiting by the master emerald.

"There you are." Knuckles said, happy to see Tikal. "Did you have fun?"

"I had a great time. The city was bigger than I imagined, and I went to this place called a mall, and I met some new people and got to experience shopping. I loved it, I didn't know there was so much you can do here."

"Well I'm glad you had fun."

"And good news, Shadow agreed to show me around again tomorrow."

"Really? You convinced him again?"

"He seemed like he was in a good mood when I asked him."

"Well I hope you have a good time tomorrow."

Tikal looked out into the city. "Me too."

* * *

Shadow rode his motorcycle in his garage and walked into his house.

"Today was surprisingly good. Heck it went a lot better than I thought it would. Everything went smoothly. My only issue was how long that shopping trip Rose and her friend made Tikal go on took, and that hedgehog that kept bothering Tikal. It wasn't completely bad I mean I wasn't thinking of… Maria."

And just like that, Shadow started to think of Maria and Tikal again.

"Tikal has shown that she's just like Maria, which explains why I'm so calm around her. But the fact that she reminds me of Maria and now I'm looking at her like she is Maria doesn't make sense to me. Does this mean-"

Shadow shook his head at the thought.

"No! I can never replace Maria. I can't do that, I won't do that. Not after the incident, and the promise I made to her."

* * *

(flashback)

Shadow watched in horror as he was placed in a capsule ready to leave the ARK.

"MARIA!" Shouted Shadow, he watched with anxious eyes as Maria looked at him at the control panel, a look of desperation on her face.

"Shadow. I beg of you, please do it for me… for a better future!"

"Maria!"

"For all the people who live on that planet… give them a chance to be happy… let them live for their dreams."

"I promise! But Maria, please don't!

Shadow, I know you can do it. That's the reason you were brought into this world. Sayonara… Shadow the Hedgehog."

With that, Maria ejected the capsule and Shadow left the ARK.

(End flashback)

* * *

"Maria I made the promise to you, and I intend on keeping it; but if it means that in doing so I'll forget about you, than I'm sorry. But I can't and won't ever forget about you."

* * *

**Chapter 4 is done. Thank you all for reading, again it means a lot to me that you are taking the time to read my story. Don't forget to review and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter – 5

The sun started to rise on the horizon, beginning the new day. Shadow woke up and let out a sigh as he got out of bed. He had gone through another sleepless night. He was annoyed that all he kept thinking about was his discovery from yesterday.

"So that's it then? Tikal is practically Maria. I saw the clues piece together right in front of me, and I didn't even want to believe it."

Shadow walked over to the window and looked out at the field of grass.

"I still have to show her around. I don't have many options here, nor do I have the time to even think about it. I'll show her the field that's out of town, at least that way we can have some peace."

Shadow walked down stairs, grabbed his motorcycle keys and went to his garage. He sighed as he got on his motorcycle.

"Let's get this over with."

Shadow drove out the garage, closing the door as he did. With his mind set, he drove to Angel Island.

* * *

Meanwhile at Angel Island, Tikal was at the steps of the alter, looking out at the horizon with a content smile. Knuckles watched from the top of the alter looking at Tikal with a concerned look.

"_She's been like this all morning. Just starring at the city like it's calling for her. I guess she's just too happy because she's going into the city again._"

Knuckles started to walk down the alter. When he got down, he inwardly sighed before talking to the orange echidna.

"Tikal?" Said Knuckles.

Tikal turned around and smiled when she saw Knuckles.

"Hello Knuckles. Do you need anything?" Tikal said, still smiling.

"Not really. Tikal, are you feeling alright?"

"I'm feeling fantastic! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, it's just that you've seemed… distracted is all, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Of course I am." She said getting up. "I'm able to experience life again after my time in the master emerald, and I'm just thankful for the things that have happened to me. I'm thankful for Shadow whose showing me around, and I'm thankful that you were here for me and that you've looked out for me since I got here. You're like the brother I never had." Tikal said giving Knuckles a hug.

Knuckles smiled. "Thanks, and you're like my long lost sister that I'm extremely grateful to have." He said and hugged Tikal back.

They broke the hug and seconds after that a flash of green light appeared. When the light cleared up, Shadow took its place.

"Shadow!" Tikal exclaimed and went to give Shadow a hug.

Shadow gave a slight chuckle before hugging her back.

"Hey Tikal."

Tikal noticed Shadow's demeanor and looked up at him.

"Shadow, are you alright?"

"Of course I am."

"Are you sure, because we-"

"It's nothing really. It's not that big a deal." Shadow said, wanting to end the conversation. "Are you ready to go?"

Tikal nodded and grabbed Shadow's arm. Shadow pulled out the chaos emerald and raised it in the air.

"CHAOS CONTROL!"

In a flash of green light, Shadow and Tikal disappeared. Knuckles smiled knowing Shadow and Tikal were going to be just fine and walked back up the alter.

* * *

Shadow and Tikal appeared on the shore of the beach and they both started to walk towards Shadow's motorcycle. Once there, they got on the motorcycle and Shadow started it. Tikal looked at Shadow.

"Where are we going today?"

"I have one place in mind." Said Shadow.

With that, they rode off.

* * *

Shadow rode off into the outskirts of the city and up a hill leading to an open field. Tikal looked around to see that the field had a lot to show; there was an abundant row of flowers stretching out further into the field, the clear open sky, and turning around she saw the city much like she did at Angel Island, only this time the view was much closer and much bigger. She looked at Shadow and gave him an approving smile.

"Shadow this place is amazing!"

Shadow chuckled.

"I knew you'd like it."

"I love it, where did you find this place?"

"It was just something I stumbled upon one day when I first settled down. I really liked the atmosphere here, and the seclusion just made it perfect."

Shadow looked out in the field to admire it for a minute before turning to Tikal. "So how's everything been?"

"Everything's been wonderful, and I really appreciate everything that you've done for me."

Shadow turned to look at her.

"It could've been anyone that would've done this favor for me, but I'm glad it was you." Said Tikal.

"R-Really?" Asked Shadow and Tikal nodded

"You've shown me how much of a kind and caring person you really are."

"I guess it was lucky that my curiosity lead me to Angel Island, huh?"

"It sure was."

Shadow and Tikal looked to the city, contentful looks on their faces.

"Shadow? How is it like in the city?" Asked Tikal.

"I don't really know. I don't spend a lot of time in the city, mainly because It was never something that really interested me. I've spent most of my time out here." Said Shadow.

"Well, if you were to take a guess, what do you think it's like down there?"

Shadow let out a sigh, the irony of his situation mocking him even further.

"_She sounds more and more like Maria every time._" Shadow thought

Tikal looked over to Shadow.

"Shadow?"

"Huh, oh! Sorry, anyway I think it's alright, definitely not my cup of tea, but I'm sure there are good things about the city. Like-"

"Hey Shadz!"

"_That cocky bastard._"

Shadow and Tikal looked back to see Sonic approach them.

"Sonic what're you doing here?" Asked Shadow.

"Nothing, just wanted to see how you were doing." Sonic looked over at Tikal and his eyes widened. "Wait a minute, I know you. You're that echidna girl that from the past. Tikal wasn't it?"

Tikal nodded but still had a confused look on her face.

"Yes, but who are you?"

"It's me, Sonic. I'm the one who helped stop Chaos after he absorbed all 7 chaos emeralds and tried to destroy the city."

Tikal thought for a bit and then gasped, looking at Sonic.

"Oh yes, I remember. You did help seize Chaos."

"Oh man it's been a long time. How's Chaos by the way?"

"He's doing much better now that he's back in the master emerald."

"_Did I miss something here? How does Faker know Tikal?_" Thought Shadow.

"That's good to hear. Man that was one heck of a fight, I'll tell ya. It's-"

"Hold on a minute, Sonic how do you know Tikal?" Asked Shadow.

"Well funny story there. You see Egghead was planning on taking over the city and had used Chaos to help him, but Chaos ended up turning on him and I was left to stop him, that's when I met Tikal, who took him away after I defeated him."

"Alright, now what is it that you're doing here?"

"We just came to check up on you."

"We?"

"Tikal!"

Sonic, Shadow and Tikal looked to see that Amy and Cream were coming towards them.

"Amy, Cream what are you two doing here?" Asked Tikal, waving to the two girls.

"Well me and Cream were about to go to the mall again, but then I saw Sonic. I asked him where he was going and he said he was looking for Shadow." Said Amy.

"When he said that, we figured that you were with Mr. Shadow so we followed Mr. Sonic here and we were right. We knew you'd be here." Said Cream.

Shadow looked at Sonic and glared at him; Sonic shrugged giving him a look of pity mouthing "Sorry" to him. Shadow sighed.

"_Can this get any worse?_"

Just then a motor sound could be heard in the distance along with faint laughter, Shadow looked up to see a hover craft and could see that Eggman was coming. He gave out a low growl

"_I had to say something._"

Sonic heard Eggman's laugh and turned around seeing his hover craft. "We've got trouble!"

Amy, Cream and Tikal looked up to see Eggman in his hovercraft, laughing hysterically the closer he got.

"Well, well if it isn't my good old friend Sonic the Hedgehog."

"Eggman, it's good to see ya pal, how've you been? I see you still haven't joined a weight watcher's class."

"Quiet, you meddling speed demon."

"What are you up to now? Not that I care, we both know that whatever you have conjured up in your thick head isn't going to work. I'm surprised you even keep going, you'd think those IQ points would work more than your plans."

"So you like jokes, huh? Well I got one: What's blue and fast, and is about to be squished like a bug?"

"Oh please humor me doctor."

"YOU, YOU LITTLE PEST!"

Eggman pushed a button and a pair of gigantic robotic arms came out the sides of the hover craft. One of the arms made fist and Eggman slammed it down to Sonic, but Sonic was too quick and he ran out the way.

"You missed, Egghead." Sonic said, sticking his tongue out.

Eggman got mad at Sonic taunting him. "I'll get you Sonic! Just you wait!"

On the sidelines, Shadow was in front of Tikal protecting her.

"_I can't just stand here while this buffoon terrorizes everyone, and we all know that Faker can't do everything by himself._"

Shadow started to walk towards the doctor, but Tikal grabbed his hand before he could go anywhere.

"Shadow where are you going?" Asked Tikal.

"I'm going to help Sonic deal with that man, or at the very least attempt to get rid of him myself." Said Shadow.

"Shadow don't!"

"Tikal, I-"

"Please don't, you said you'd try to avoid conflict."

Shadow saw the pleading look in her eyes and sighed.

"_Damn, she's good. That bloated doctor is extremely lucky; I can't believe I'm going through with this. I gave my word and I should at least go through with that._"

"Very well, I won't." Said Shadow.

"Thank you."

Just then Tikal was lifted off the ground. She started to panic as she saw that Eggman had grabbed her.

"Tikal!"

"What do we have here, you actually caring for someone Shadow?" Said Eggman.

"Put her down Eggman!"

"Oh why should I? It's not like this girl holds any importance to you."

"Put her down, now!"

Eggman just laughed and looked at Tikal.

"Well isn't this weird? I'm receiving a very high energy level emitting from you, and it's strangely familiar to the master emerald."

Eggman laughed again as Tikal looked on in fear.

"You might be more useful than I anticipated. You'll be of great help to me, my sweet."

Eggman laughed as he started to fly away.

Before he left something hit his hover craft. He turned around to see what had hit him and he saw Shadow moving into some sort of pose.

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

Shadow shot the chaos energy out of his hands and aimed for the hovercraft. One of the energy blasts hit the arm that was holding Tikal and let go of her, Tikal screamed as she was falling to the ground.

"Tikal!"

Shadow ran and grabbed Tikal before she hit the ground, he put her down and looked up at Eggman.

"Don't you ever test me Eggman! It will be the last mistake you'll ever make in your life!"

Shadow shot another round of chaos spears at Eggman.

Eggman retreated yelling as he flew off. "I'll be back!"

Shadow shook his head and looked at Tikal, who held on to Shadow like her life depended on it.

"Are you okay?" Asked Shadow. Sonic, Amy, and Cream approaching the two.

Tikal looked up at Shadow and gave him a hug.

"Yes, thank you for saving me." Said Tikal.

"Of course, I can never let anything happen to you." Said Shadow hugging Tikal back.

"Hey Shadz, I didn't know that Tikal was your girlfriend." Said Sonic chuckling.

Shadow and Tikal both blushed, Tikal from embarrassment and Shadow from anger. Shadow broke the hug and looked at Sonic.

"Don't. Even. Start."

"C'mon dude it was a joke. Calm down."

"You ever notice that your 'jokes' are the things that get me angry in the first place?!"

Tikal started to laugh with Amy and Cream as Sonic and Shadow kept arguing.

* * *

**And here's Chapter 5. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I really hope I kept everyone in character. Thank you for reading and I'll see you in the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter – 6

Sonic and Shadow were still arguing over Sonic's little joke earlier, Amy, Cream and Tikal ended up talking as the two kept arguing. After a while, Sonic apologized to Shadow for his uncalled for joke. He went up to apologize to Tikal and ran off. Amy and Cream decided to leave too, they had plans to go to the mall. After saying goodbye to Shadow and Tikal, the two girls left as well. Shadow went to stand on the edge of the cliff looking at the city. Tikal walked beside Shadow looking at the city too, admiring the view. She sighed as she looked over at Shadow.

"Hey Shadow?"

"Yes?"

"I want to thank you again for saving me."

"It was no problem."

"Probably, but it's still something that needs to be noticed."

"Don't worry about it. Really it was nothing."

"But you've already helped me twice, it's almost as if you'd do anything to make sure I'm safe."

"I would do anything."

"Really, why is that?"

"Let's just say that you remind me of someone very special to me."

Shadow sighed, as he continued to look towards the city. Eventually he noticed that dark clouds were coming there way.

"It looks like it's going to rain, how about I take you to my house?"

Tikal nodded and they walked to Shadow's motorcycle. The faint sound of thunder can be heard as they rode back to the city.

* * *

Shadow and Tikal made it to Shadow's house as the rain kept pouring down. He opened the garage door and drove his motorcycle inside the garage, they went inside the house and Shadow brought Tikal over to a couch while he left to get towels for both of them. He came back and handed Tikal a red towel.

"Thank you." Said Tikal.

"Don't mention it." Said Shadow.

Shadow took a seat next to Tikal as he dried himself off.

"Do you need anything?" Asked Shadow.

"No thank you, I'm fine."

"Well if you do, just let me know."

There was one thing that kind of bothered Tikal. She sighed before speaking.

"Shadow?"

"Yes?"

"What did you mean earlier when you said that I reminded you of some one special to you?"

Shadow sighed.

"It's hard to explain it but you just remind me of a very close friend of mine. You act exactly like her and I can't help but feel contentment in knowing that."

"Oh well that's great to hear. What's her name?"

"I don't really like talking about it. Let's just say that something happened and we got separated long ago."

"I'm so sorry to hear. I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought it up."

"It's okay, it's not your fault, it's just one of those things I've been trying to cope with."

Shadow let out a sigh as he got up.

"Excuse me, but I need to go check something really quick."

Shadow got up and went upstairs. Tikal sat at the couch with a look of pity on her face.

"Poor Shadow. He was really close to this friend and they got separated, and it just sounds like I'm not making things any better for him. It must be hard for him to cope with this."

Tikal thought about it and her eyes widened in shock. She was too deep in thought that she didn't notice a figure approaching her from behind.

"Wait, didn't he just say that his friend was one of the things he's been trying to cope with? Does this mean that she was a part of his-"

Something was placed over Tikal's mouth. She struggled to get free but to no avail, she started to drift to unconsciousness, she heard a voice whisper into her ear.

"Like I said, you'll be of great use to me."

Moments later Tikal's body went limp and she was unconscious.

* * *

(With Shadow)

Shadow was in his room walking back and fourth, thinking over his dilemma.

"I don't think I can take it anymore. This whole Tikal being Maria thing is more than I thought it would be. I obviously can't live like this; it's too much for me to handle. That's it, I have to tell her exactly what's going on. This is just going to keep eating me alive if I don't. I have to do it, I have to."

Shadow took a deep breathe and exited the room, and went downstairs.

"Tikal?"

He saw that she was no longer sitting on the couch. Thinking this was a joke he called her again.

"Tikal?"

There was no answer. He started to panic and called out for her again.

"Tikal?!"

He started to look around the house. He checked rest of the living room, the kitchen, his garage, he even went outside just to be sure but he couldn't find her. He ran back inside.

"Tikal, where are you?"

Shadow sat back down on the couch thinking of what could've happened and where she could be. Just then a monitor flew up to Shadow, he looked at the monitor confused of what it was doing in his house, when it turned on to reveal Eggman.

"Hello Shadow" Said Eggman.

"Eggman! What do you want?

"Looking for something?"

"What do you mean?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe… a girl." Eggman chuckled.

Shadow was confused. He thought about it and clenched his fist when he found out.

"You took Tikal!"

"Guilty as charged."

"Where is she?"

"Oh don't worry about that, I'm taking very good care of her."

Shadow let out a growl.

"Where is she?!"

"There's no need to be hasty Shadow, I'm keeping her at my base. It's by the edge of town on the north side near the forest, you can't miss it."

Shadow felt complete rage towards Eggman, who kept chuckling after giving Shadow the information.

"Well, what are you going to do now, Shadow?"

Shadow punched the monitor, smashing the screen to pieces and ran out the house in search of Eggman's base. He zipped through the streets ignoring the rain pouring down on him.

"You crossed the line Eggman. There's going to be hell to pay when I find you."

* * *

**Here's chapter 6. Sorry if it's short, I didn't have much planned in this chapter. Anyway thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed, don't forget to review, and I'll see you in the next chapter. **


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter – 7

Over at Tail's workshop, Sonic was watching T.V. in the living room while Tails was at a table on the other side of the room filling out blue prints. Sonic yawned as he flipped through the channels, nothing peaking his interest.

"Wow nothing's on." Said Sonic.

He looked to where Tails was at. Though his back was turned, Sonic knew how focused Tails was on whatever he was working on.

"_He's always so focused on everything he does. Sometimes I worry about him; he is just a kid, but all the time he seems to know what he's doing._"

Sonic sighed.

The door suddenly flew open making Sonic and Tails jump. Knuckles walked in panting for breathe.

"Sonic, Tails!" Said Knuckles, panicking.

"Whoa Knuckles calm down. What's wrong?" Said Sonic

"It's Tikal, she's missing."

"What how?"

"I don't know. I figured that she was with Shadow after it rained, but it's been over an hour and she still isn't back yet."

"You have any idea where they can be?"

"Maybe; I went to Shadow's house to see if I can find them, but no one was there. I looked around and all I found was this smashed monitor." Knuckles held up the monitor, the screen broken to pieces. "It looks like it could be Eggman's."

"Give it to me!" Said Tails.

Knuckles handed Tails the monitor.

"What are you going to do with it?" Asked Sonic.

"I'm going to scan it and analyze anything that could have something useful in it, like a microchip. If I can be able to analyze it, it might show us where it came from, thus leading us to where Shadow had gone to."

"Well then get to work!" Said Knuckles.

* * *

(With Shadow)

Shadow made it to the edge of town after running for miles. He had spotted the forest he needed to go to, but wasn't sure if this was the place Eggman was talking about.

"Where are you hiding?"

Just then he saw a robot go into the forest. Shadow recognized it as one of Eggman's Egg pawns and followed it. The Egg pawn came up to a wall that was covered with vines, leaves, and moss. After a few seconds the wall started to move, and a door slid open. The Egg pawn entered in but was hit with a blast and fell to the ground; Shadow walked up to the Egg pawn and looked inside the base.

"You messed with the wrong life form, Eggman."

Shadow walked in the base, as the door closed behind him.

* * *

"Did you get it Tails?" Asked Sonic.

Tails had been analyzing the monitor which was being scanned, it had been a while and the results still had not shown.

"Almost. The system is still loading; give it some time, we'll have our answer any minute." Said Tails.

After a few minutes, the computer that was scanning the monitor was finished and Tails smiled.

"I got it!"

"Where is it?" Asked Knuckles.

"It's somewhere on the northern side of Station Square out in the forest. That doesn't tell us much, but it's something at least."

"Alright, let's move." Said Sonic.

* * *

Once Shadow was in the base, he stood in the middle of an empty room.

"All this trouble and to prove what? The minute I find that buffoon, I'm going to make sure he never pushes his luck again."

An alarm suddenly went off and Egg pawns came out and started to charge towards Shadow. Shadow smirked as he watched the Egg pawns get closer to him.

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

Shadow shot the chaos energy out towards the Egg pawns that were in the front, the impact sending the others to scatter. The Egg pawns still went after Shadow, who was ready for the barrage of assaults.

One Egg pawn ran up to Shadow from behind; when it got close, Shadow turned around and grabbed it and threw it to the group coming towards him, knocking a few down in the process. Shadow noticed another Egg pawn running straight to him, he took out the emerald and performed Chaos Control; he disappeared before the Egg pawn got too close and reappeared behind it where he punched through its body.

One Egg Pawn with a laser gun ran towards Shadow; Shadow smirked. When the Egg pawn was close, Shadow grabbed and twisted its arm and took the gun from the Egg Pawn. He gave out a little chuckle and smirked.

"Now to finish this little game."

He shot at the remaining Egg pawns that were coming towards him; not missing a single shot. He used Chaos Spear to help with the getting rid of the Egg Pawns, shooting the chaos energy at the Egg Pawns, leaving a cloud of dust.

When the dust cleared, he saw one Egg Pawn running away; he smirked and aimed the gun at the running robot and shot it. The laser hit the robots head, leaving a hole in its place to see the wires and circuits.

Shadow walked across to the other side of the room to the door; an Egg pawn tried to get up and Shadow stomped on its head before it got up. Shadow followed a path down the hall trying to find the room that had held Tikal captive. He came across a big door that looked suspicious enough and went inside and found Tikal in a cage.

"Tikal!"

"Shadow!"

Shadow went up to the cage and smiled at Tikal.

"Don't worry; I'm going to get you out here."

"So nice of you to join us, Shadow."

Shadow turned around and saw Eggman in a big Egg Pawn like robot suit. He scowled and stepped up to Eggman.

"Judgment Day has come."

* * *

**And here is chapter 7. Sorry for the short chapter again, but hey I think I did better with the fight scene at least, not to sound cocky. Anyway thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you in the next chapter. And don't forget to review.**


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